LETTER TO A. I. RYKOV AND REMARKS ON HIS TELEPHONE MESSAGE

Written:Written on May 18, 1922Published:First published in 1959 inLenin Miscellany XXXVI.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1976,

      Moscow,Volume 45,

      pages552b-554a.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet ArchiveYou may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

ComradeRykov:

Ifthe People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade and its
men are “confusing” everything(xxx), we should make surenot to do likewise. And if we write “reportedly”(x)and
postpone things “until the question is cleared up”(xx), it
looks as though we areencouraging the confusion.Why
not put an end to the confusion by having Smolyaninov (or
someone else, but someone definite, to enable you too to
make a personal checkright away) get on the direct line to
find out immediately and without any “reportedly”. Who
is responsible at the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat for
Foreign Trade? What has he been doing? Has he sent, is
sending or will send one or two ships? When? to whom?
how many?

Weseem to have the P.C.F.T. in a terrible state of chaos,
yet weare encouraging the chaosinstead of carrying on anyrealfight against it. Is that how you used to work under
the “Chuso”? And is it possible to overcome the chaos
unless the methods of the old “Chuso” are
used?[1]

TELEPHONE MESSAGE TO V. I. LENIN

VladimirIlyich:

Wediscussed at the C.L.D. the question concerning the dispatch
of the two ships to Italy. We established that the Ukrainian
Commissariat for Foreign Trade has a special organisation for the sale and export
of coal to Italy which hasreportedlyx)sent out one ship. That is why

we confined ourselves to a decision on selecting the best brands of coal
for the needs of export to Italy—for the purpose of winning the
Italian market. As for the question of the two ships itself—we have
postponed it until the question of how much coal has already been
sent to Italy iscleared up.xx)

Pleasenote that our representatives at Genoa have beenconfusingxxx)usall the time, making demands which they cancel within
a few days. I shall send a telegram tomorrow asking them to bring
up with Moscow only motivated and considered questions and
proposals, as it is quite impossible to do one thing at the request of
Litvinov and Chicherin only to abandon it on Krasin’s proposal. Krasin’s
telegram shows that he himself is out of touch and does not know
that the coal is already on the way and has been partially sold. The
telegram on which you have made an inscription does not even sayto which of the Italian ports the coal is to go, whore the buyer is to
he found, and who is to be responsible for the sale of coal in Italy.

A.I.RykovDeputy Chairman, C.L.D.

19.25, May 17, 1922

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